WE Washington was pleased to host two panel discussions entitled: 'Navigating Designations & Degrees to Further Your Career in Finance' & 'Active vs. Passive Investing: What Will Work as the Fed Tightens' at Georgetown University. FULL SUMMARY BELOW.

PANEL TWO
Active vs. Passive Investing: What Will Work as the Fed Tightens

On October 19, 2017 the Women in ETFs Washington DC Chapter hosted their 3rd annual educational event at Georgetown University with two panel presentations. Panel One: "Navigating Designations & Degrees to Further Your Career in Finance", was moderated by Sharon Snow of Metropolitan Capital Strategies. Speakers discussed their backgrounds and the types of degrees and designations needed to get into their fields of work. They noted how lack of experience works against women in hiring and lamented the exit of talented, educated women from the workforce as work/life balance became a struggle. They offered suggestions on how companies can help retain these women and reintroduce them to the workforce after they have taken time off. All agreed on the importance of mentoring, noting they had benefited from having strong "sponsors" or "advocates" during their careers.

Panel Two: "Active vs. Passive Investing: What Will Work as the Fed Tightens", was moderated by Georgetown's Esteemed Fellow, John Jacobs. Panelists discussed their views about the stability of markets and the risk of Black Monday occurring again. Speakers discussed the types of products and regulatory environments that could contribute to such a Black Swan event. They talked about ETFs and the liquidity they provide, but noted the risks associated with ETFs based on underlying instruments that are not as liquid. The regulatory environment, from under-regulation in 2008 to over-regulation today, and the likelihood of a pullback, was also discussed.

The presentations were lively and very interesting. Participants asked a lot of questions and stayed to continue discussions during the cocktail reception.